Japan Economic Newswire | March 26, 2002
The chairman of the agriculture committee of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Stuart Harbinson, said Tuesday he will present a new draft liberalization framework centering on tariff reduction and other issues by mid-February next year, trade sources said.
Harbinson unveiled the plan at a special committee session that started Tuesday in order to coordinate schedules among member countries so that they can decide on the details of agricultural issues that will be taken up under a new global round of talks on trade liberalization. Member countries are due to adopt the details by March next year in order to present the agenda for the negotiations to the WTO's fifth ministerial conference slated for the summer of 2003.
Three sessions of negotiations will be scheduled for each of three key themes -- market access, subsidies for domestic agriculture and export subsidies -- which the WTO decided to address in the new round at its fourth ministerial meeting last November, the sources said.
An intense tug of war is being staged over agricultural trade liberalization between farm produce-exporting and -importing countries.
Australia, the United States and other exporters are demanding accelerated liberalization, while Japan and other importers are stressing that each country's situation should be taken into account in the trade talks.Japan Economic Newswire:
